This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/lRC.2ACE/3478.2 Message Board Post: Ruth, the Carpathian Mountains are nowhere even remotely in the vicinity of Lithuania, way up on the Baltic Sea! Until 1919, the town of Svalyava (in Hungarian: Szolyva) was located in Hungary, and to be precise, in that region of northwestern Hungary known as Carpathian Ruthenia (Ruthenia being an older alternative name for Ukraine), or Carpatho-Rus, or Carpatho Russia, or Carpatho-Ukraine. Its major city is the city of Uzhorod (in Russian: Uzhgorod; in Hungarian: Ungvar). Following World War I and the break-up of the vast Austro-Hungarian Empire by the Allies, Hungary was forced to cede its northwestern region of Upper Hungary to the newly created country of Czechoslovakia, most of which then formed the Slovakia half of the new country. Included in the territorial transfer was Carpathian Ruthenia. Carpathian Ruthenia was the easternmost tip of Czechoslovakia in the years between the two World Wars. The region has no connection whatsoever and never has had a connection to what is today the Czech Repulic, apart from the fact that is was part of the country of Czechoslovakia from 1919 to 1939. Following World War II, Carpathian Ruthenia or Carpatho-Ukraine was ceded to the Soviet Union and made part of the Ukraine and remains part of Ukraine today. The people of the Carpatho-Ukraine, however, have often viewed themselves as an ethnic group separate from the Ukrainians, many viewing themselves as Russians. You might find the following articles of interest: http://www.carpatho-rusyn.org/jews/ http://www.rusyn.org/pop_jews.htm In any event, you can forget Lithuania! Robert